Thank you all for all of the thoughts! I have tried many of those, but a few I have not. So from all of these it looks like I still have to try out L'Abattoir, Hawksworth, Koerners, and Pourhouse. I remember Hamilton Street Grill used to have an excellent lamb burger, but the last time I was there their "lamb & yam" was no longer available apparently. I should try their regular beef burger too I suppose.

On the others, I do think Camp upstairs does a decent job - but it is somehow a bit small for me and doesn't give that overall burger satisfaction gut feel.

On the others......

I'll include some photos of others just for reference in order of better to worse from my experience:

I have visited this spot for years whenever out in that area. He offers a VERY fresh selection of halal meats. There used to be Middle Eastern groceries and a freezer section with some Middle Eastern products, but he has gotten rid of most of that and added more tables.

He grills to order items straight from the butcher section. Talk about fresh!

My favourites there are the mirqas (both beef and lamb are very good), and they steaks.

The mirqas tastes freshly made with a spice blend that is not over the top hot, yet very pleasant. The quality of the meat is very high. They clearly pay attention to meat quality here. They split the mirqas in half and grill it to perfection. Each piece gets a nice char, while still being tender inside - a difficult balance. It comes with a small side of tzatziki for dipping.

Steaks are always grilled to the requested level of doneness and he hits it on the head in terms of doneness every time I've been there.

The meats also come with a side of rice, salad, and potatoes. The rice has a hint of spicing to it, and the salad is very fresh with a nice mixture of tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, onions, and feta. The potatoes are cooked in olive oil and covered with a bit of parsley.

Service is extremely friendly. The butcher seems like a really really nice guy who loves food and has pride in putting out a great product.

Are there any good spots to purchase small amounts of good coffee (50 or 100 grams) where they grind it fresh for you? Almost all of the good roasters around town seem to have only large bags available. I remember Yoka's used to do coffee by weight and did small amounts. But can't seem to find anything other than supermarkets now.

Any thoughts on this where you can find good coffee available in small by the weight portions to give as a welcome gift to visitors who will need it pre-ground?

I would agree that Carano is ok for a neighbourhood spot, but not as strong as several of the other pizza spots which have opened up around the city. I find the Carano pizza to have way too much corn meal for my taste and the toppings on the white sauce, sausage, fennel, fior di latte, arugula pizza I had ($15) left me craving more fennel taste and much less salt. It was unusually overly salty for me.

They have a single table inside and 2 outdoor tables. There is a small grocery section with a nice selection of pastas and other imported goods. They also serve up ice cream and a few savoury lunch choices.

I tried their special of the day - fagiolata ($10 per bowl) which was served with a piece of focaccia.

The focaccia was freshly baked, and fluffy. It had nice course salt and overall was a good job. The fagiolata was a bit different than any I have had before. It was topped with raw kale, and I believe the fagiolata itself didn't have any meat in it. (At least I couldn't identify any.) The base was white beans with a rich tomato sauce. They placed the raw kale and some shredded hard cheese on top. Then they drizzled a bit of sage oil. I found the fagiolata to be a bit one noted. It could have used some meat flavour to make it more complex, and perhaps a bit more garlic. I also would have enjoyed a bit more in terms of herbal flavours. It tasted very pure tomato. I felt that $10 was over priced for the quantity and simplicity of what was served.

Overall the place holds promise, and I hope they get their legs and a little bit of balance in the food - and perhaps adjust their prices or portion sizes to match.

Started off with the laphet thoke (fermented tea leaf salad). It was a good sized portion, presented on a flat plate with the chili and raw garlic on the side so you could add to taste. There were 3-4 types of fried beans which added the classic crunchy texture, combined with the marinated tomatoes and of course the star of the dish, the fermented tea leaves. What a wonderful start to the meal, and reasonably priced at $5. They have a wide selection of Burmese salads, all priced for the same $5. I'm looking forward to trying them all!

They offer three different noodle soups, which are all available in small ($3.50), medium ($5.50), and large ($7.50). We ordered two mediums, and the serving was more than enough for us.

The mohinga had a classic fish broth, which was nicely balanced. The rice noodles were perfectly cooked. The sliced hard-boiled egg soaked up the broth nicely. The banana tree root, lemongrass, and cilantro all combined and rounded out the complex and well balanced flavour profile. Delicious.

The ohn no kyawswe (coconut milk noodle soup) had wheat flour noodles that had the perfect chew, and although I don't think they make them in-house tasted almost handmade. The chicken was boneless dark meat which was moist and flavourful. The broth had deep complexity with nicely balanced seasoning and herbs. It was topped with fried rice noodles for texture, as well as a sliced hard boiled egg. Delicious.

The friendly woman who runs the place gave us some complimentary desserts including sooji (semolina flavoured with coconut) and shwe htamin (sweetened sticky rice flavoured with coconut). Both were very good, with a slight preference for the sooji. Neither was overly sweet, and the flavours nicely finished off a wonderful meal.

Total damage for the entire meal for two people was a very reasonable $16.

Will definitely be back, and can't wait to try all of the salads, the curries, the fried noodles, and the biryani.

This spot is a keeper, and is definitely my favourite Burmese in Vancouver (over Amay, Original Bo's, New Bo's, etc.) based upon my initial visit.

Cotto's carbonara and margherita pizzas. What happens when you take a chef that has worked under Jean George, Daniel Boulud, Christian Delouvrier, and Frank Dodd who then worked at Cioppino and stick him out in the burbs owning and operating a pizza place?

The answer is simple: Cotto.

This suburban pizzeria has the feel of a family dining restaurant chain like Earl's or Cactus Club complete with multiple young hostesses standing by the door not doing much while waiting to seat people. It seems they put some money into the place, yet it feels very corporate. Let's just say it felt like a chain, and I was surprised it wasn't. Perhaps there are big plans ahead.....

We started with the complimentary fresh baked bread which was served with a white bean dip. The bread had a nice crust, and the dip was smooth and flavourful, as it was sitting in a bit of nice oil.

Our Insalata Rucola then arrived. It had arugula, Gorgonzola, crispy pancetta, pickled cucumber, pressed cantaloupe, pinenuts, with a red wine vinaigrette. Everything worked really nicely - including the pressed cantaloupe which added a pleasant sweetness - with the exception of the pickled cucumber. It was jarring and the salad would have been better without it. Overall a nice salad with some interesting components and nicely dressed.

The pizza margherita had a pleasant char and leoparding. It may have been about 15 seconds too long in the oven for my taste - but that is a personal preference as I prefer my pizza slightly softer than many people do. The tomatoes had a heartiness that really worked well. A very solid job on this pizza, with the exception of the basil leaves being a bit burned and not having a strong basil taste.

The pizza carbonara was a real treat. This one was cooked more to my liking - perhaps the toppings protected it a bit - or perhaps they took this one out first? It had guanciale, Parmigiano-Reggiano, Pecorino Romano, fonduta, roasted garlic, and a 63° egg. The guanciale really gave a carbonara feel to the pizza. It was a delicious local one. The egg was perfectly cooked, and breaking it and spreading it over the pizza really enhanced the overall flavours. A delicious pizza!

Overall the pizzas and salad were very good. I'm not a fan of the atmosphere - I'm not a fan of the family dining genre. But their pizza has pulled me back several times.

Verace's diavola. This spot comes in right about average among that new pack of places. I ordered the Divola, which they describe has having fresh tomatoes, spicy genoa salami, capicollo, roasted red onion and peppers, topped with grana padano, fresh basil and evoo. The capicollo was very good - it had the proper aged flavour and was definitely the highlight of the toppings by far. The spicy genoa salami was a disappointment - it had almost no flavour, no spice, and was rather uninspired. The tomatoes had a nice strong flavour. There were very few onions and peppers so they didn't contribute much flavour wise. The crust itself had a good chew, but had already cooled substantially by the time it made it to the table unfortunately. It came with two bottles of oil - one chili oil and one garlic oil. The chili oil had almost no flavour to it. I don't think the chili had been sitting in it long enough. The garlic oil was very good.

The pizza came with a complimentary side caesar salad, which had crisp leaves but was slightly overdressed.

Novo's diavallo (sic). Neapolitan style served with hot capicollo, onion, chili flakes and basil. Granted I've never seen it spelled that way, but I digress.

The cooking was a bit uneven with one or two chars that were past char and into charcoal range on the crust. But I digress, as barring the charcoal bits the crust was otherwise good. It was thin, crunchy on the outer parts and softer in the centre as it should be.

The toppings were of decent quality. I would have liked a bit more heat.

Mercante's Alla Salsiccia. Unlike several years ago, clearly Neapolitan style is popping up all across town - even in some VERY unlikely locations like this. I had heard that a new Neapolitan spot opened up in the unlikely location of the UBC campus. Huh? Really? Couldn't be. So I hightailed it over there (to hell with difficult parking!) to try it out.

Based upon the huge line it was clear something different was going on here. Seems they have plopped an Italian cafe right in the middle of what would normally be a decent quality food vacuum filled with generic cafeteria style food outlets and fast food chains. Go figure.

The menu has a nice variety of Italian options including breakfast to the tune of Uova in Camicia in a breakfast sandwich format (poached egg in fontina fondue with choice of toppings), lunch/dinner options ranging from freshly made Neapolitan pizzas to pastas, and dessert options including affogato, tiramisu, and torta di cioccolato amaro. Had to check where I was after reading the menu.

I ordered the Pizza Alla Salsiccia, which was a very reasonable $9.50 - perhaps the least expensive Neapolitan place around town? It was described as having chorizo, tomato, basil, oregano and mozzarella. After ordering they prepared it fresh in the open kitchen and threw it into the large open oven to bake it off. The pizza was composed well, and properly baked off. The dough had a good amount of chew and was softer in the centre as it should be. It was slightly too thick overall though so it was a bit too doughy for my preference, but I'm nitpicking. The toppings are where it differed from the newer places around town - they were decidedly lower in quality - everything from the tomato sauce to the cheese to the sausage. They weren't terrible, but the quality difference was noticeable. Also as a stylistic preference, I prefer when they don't fully bake off the basil leaves and leave them fresher on top in the last minute. These were baked down to brown/black. Overall the pizza was decent - not at the level of several of the other newer spots around town, but if this was 8 years ago it could have been categorized as one of the better pizzas in Vancouver.

Bibo's Margherita. Neapolitan style. The pizza arrived nice and hot with a wonderful char on the crust. The outside edges were crunchy with a softer centre - like it should be. It had a very light overall flavour. The cheese was a bit light for my taste, and seemed to be slighter lower quality than many other places around town.

Campagnolo Roma's diavolo. Was well executed. The crust had a nice chew and char. The spicy salami added just the right amount of heat to a rich yet not overpowering sauce. Considering this is not a pizza specialist they did a superb job on it.

Pizza Garden's regular slice (AKA Margherita). This is a typical NY style slice shop. It is right off of the Granville entertainment district and was a really pleasant surprise. They use a Wood Stone open oven, and producing a very VERY respectable NY style slice for a reasonable price ($2.25/slice, or $5.50 for 2 slices and a drink).

The key here clearly is getting whatever is coming fresh out of the oven, as the slices sitting in the warming tray did not look anywhere near as good.

Luckily the friendly guy behind the counter was just taking out a basic no fancy schmancy toppings pizza from the over so I got to enjoy my favourite - a regular slice. The crust was very good, with just the right chew while still being crispy and light. It folded perfectly. The bottom had a nice leoparding with a slight char. The sauce was rich and flavourful, the cheese just right, and there was a little bit of olive oil on top just like in NY.

Trilussa's arugula, sausage and mozzarella. This spot serves pizza al metro style (the type where you say how much you want and they cut it off to that amount). The crust had a nice chew and was perfectly charred on the edges. The bite of the arugula combined nicely with the other ingredients. But the highlight was the sausage, which was a perfectly seasoned non-commercial tasting sausage. So many places put a nasty commercial tasting sausage on their pizzas. Not here. Good stuff! My only wish would be if they would use just a fraction less olive oil in it. It was delicious, but could have been just slightly less oily (not a lot, just slightly).

Pizzeria Barbarella's Salsiccia. It was topped with tomato, fior di latte, aged mozzarella, fennel sausage, house pickled peppers, basil, parmigiano reggiano and extra virgin olive oil. The fennel seeds in the sausage added the perfect flavour punch to each bite. The crust was perfect for this style - the centre was softer, but not falling apart, and the outside was crispy but not burned. It was easy to pick up a piece, fold it, and eat it without things falling apart. The bottom of the crust had a nice leopard spotting from the perfect char.

I just recently tried an iced coffee made with a Yama Tower cold brew drip tower down in San Francisco at a cafe called Jane that was phenomenal. Are there any places in Vancouver that make iced coffee with one of these? Details: http://gizmodo.com/5938277/yama-cold-...

Dragon Lord Cafe was a regular favourite of mine for their Baked Pork Chop Fried Rice. The rice had good wok hei, the pork chop was crispy and not overly breaded. They had a few little extras mixed in with the rice, and overall had my favourite. But they changed to the Moon Cafe and since then it has slipped a bit for me so it got me wondering what is the best location for a great one with good wok hei on the rice?